Thursday, March 12, 2009

Scream of the Day

Thursday: Secretary (Day) / Server (Night)

I can only justify the ridiculousness of humankind by the fact that it is a full moon. All the werewolves have emerged and have shown their fangs.

This morning, a happy little morning here in the Education Department, the phone rang. I happily answered the happily ringing phone to hear a woman on the other end asking to speak with the Department Chair.

"May I tell her who's calling?" I ask sweetly, in my best polite-secretary voice ever

She tells me her name, to which I respond, "And what is this regarding?"

To this she says, "This is regarding me speaking to the Department Chair."

Who says that???

I am doing my job, which is filtering the phone calls for the DC (Department Chair)! When a secretary asks what your call is regarding or what your call is in reference to, we are NOT being nosy, we are DOING OUR JOB!

With this response, I thanked her, pushed the 'hold' button, and went to rant and rave with the DC. Because of the way the person spoke to me, the DC refused to speak with her. (Remember that people! If you're mean to the secretary, chances are the call may not go through.)

I picked up the holding line, and said, "I apologize, however, the Department Chair is unavailable, may I take a message?" At this time, the woman on the other end gave me her number and told me briefly what her call was in reference to--THAT'S WHAT I ASKED IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!! Had she told me initially, she may have been permitted to speak with the DC.

On this same topic, I get A LOT of people who call to speak with the DC, and when I ask them what it's in reference to, they answer, "It's personal." That's unacceptable. I don't care about your situation, be as brief as humanly possible. I don't care! But the department chair doesn't know half the people who call, and all of them say "It's personal!" I'm not looking for your ENTIRE situation, you could just say, "It's in reference to a course." OR "It's in reference to an instructor." OR "It's in reference to a grade." That's all I need! I couldn't care less about you or your situation! I'm only trying to do my job! Let me!

Since I'm on a roll, I'm just going to keep going. In addition, it makes me want to rip my hair out when a student enters the office and says, "I have an appointment with my instructor." I then ask, "Who is your instructor?" The dear-in-headlights look (I get it EVERY time), and the student responds, "Oh, I forgot his (or her) name...uh, something that starts with a "D." What! You are a college student! You are attempting to get your degree to become a PROFESSIONAL and you don't even know your instructor's name????!!!!

I understand getting a little confused in the beginning of the semester, but we are now in week 9 of the semester, and you still don't know your instructor's name? Well, then I guess it'd be okay if I sent you to speak with any instructor? WTF?

Students DEMAND respect. They DEMAND a chance to prove themselves. They DEMAND certain grades (even if they haven't earned it). They DEMAND instructors to bend over backwards at their every whim. Yet, they cannot find it within themselves to know the person's name with whom they demand so much.